Bill, why were the carbs not included with the engine assembly? Distributors were, as I was told that is why they have the chisel marks on the intake, and distributor neck for basic timing alignment. Those marks were there in case the dist was disturbed during transit. So why not ship with carb attached? No gasoline would be included at that stage.

<< why were the carbs not included with the engine assembly? Distributors were, as I was told that is why they have the chisel marks on the intake, and distributor neck for basic timing alignment. Those marks were there in case the dist was disturbed during transit. So why not ship with carb attached? No gasoline would be included at that stage. >>

Engines were shipped "bare-naked" from the engine plants - they didn't need carburetors, as they were hot-tested using natural gas. The engine plants would have needed to stock thousands of carburetors to cover the hundreds of different car and truck engine suffixes they built every day. Photo below was taken on the Flint V-8 shipping dock in 1955, and the as-shipped state of engine dress didn't change much for the next 20 years.

So the distributors were not installed with the engine assembly when shipped as they were shipped naked? Was the distributor that was tested with the engine reunited at the car assembly plant? When were those chisel marks done at the final assembly of the car?

Thanks fellas. I am thinking of putting in a bid for this carb. What do you think? I'm really looking for a 943 but haven't found a core yet in 14 years of looking. Everyone wants to sell me a restored one and I don't want a restored one. I want the patina to match what I have.

Thanks fellas. I am thinking of putting in a bid for this carb. What do you think? I'm really looking for a 943 but haven't found a core yet in 14 years of looking. Everyone wants to sell me a restored one and I don't want a restored one. I want the patina to match what I have.

IMO it is TOO EARLY, (Read my post above, my carb is 9-5-2 and my DZ engine stamp is before yours), I honestly don't see how a March carb can find its way onto a June car, 2 weeks to 4 weeks is the norm, with 4 even being a stretch.

Seller says - " very nice and the factory choke set up work perfect too", I don't see how that is possible, it is missing the fast idle Lever and Plastic Fast Idle Cam. You should ask him for a picture of the LH rear drivers corner to see if it has the original non reinforced base plate.

Once again engines were furnished to the assembly plants without carb. The inventory of carbs was there, not at Flint so the carb date is unrelated to when the engine was built.

There are 30-40 known build dates for 4053 carbs covering the 1969 model year. That means they were batch-built 400-500 units at a time. As a Tier 1 supplier there is no way carbs were 'made to order'; they were shipped from finished goods inventory. They sat in stock at Holley; they sat in stock at the plant. There was no first-in first-out requirement. If it was the correct part it was used regardless of date. My data shows 943 carbs as late as August '69.

Once again engines were furnished to the assembly plants without carb. The inventory of carbs was there, not at Flint so the carb date is unrelated to when the engine was built.

There are 30-40 known build dates for 4053 carbs covering the 1969 model year. That means they were batch-built 400-500 units at a time. As a Tier 1 supplier there is no way carbs were 'made to order'; they were shipped from finished goods inventory. They sat in stock at Holley; they sat in stock at the plant. There was no first-in first-out requirement. If it was the correct part it was used regardless of date. My data shows 943 carbs as late as August '69.

Thanks. Good point. That may be the case but I posted my carb date/engine build date as a reference so comparisons could be made. I understand that carbs were probably not rotated like groceries with pull dates, and a wider date range is known to exist. The Ebay 4053 Mar 2 week carb in question could probably work for Gary, but seeing as the posted 05E Z28 1,000 serial numbers less has a April 3 week carb, do you think that would be considered normal?